ESPN The Magazine talks RGIII and Obama

I’m writing to you on behalf of a young man who recently moved to your district. He’s a 23-year-old native of Copperas Cove, Texas, a recent graduate of Baylor University, and it’s my hope that you might offer him some guidance. It’s my fear that you’re the only person who can. His name is Robert Griffin III. You have a passing, public acquaintance with Mr. Griffin, of course, but I suspect you root for him privately, perhaps intensely, perhaps more than you realize, and how could you not? In many ways Mr. Griffin is you, and you are him.

I don’t mean politically. As you know, Mr. Griffin is staunchly apolitical, won’t declare himself Democrat or Republican, counts members of both parties among his close friends. One of his favorite professors at Baylor, a Molly Ivins type, says Griffin talked in class like an impassioned liberal, whereas Baylor’s president, Judge Ken Starr, one of the most famous conservatives in recent years, speaks of Griffin like a son. No, the comparison between you and Griffin stems from things other than politics, things such as your origins, and the galvanizing effect you have on others, and the manner in which you both burst onto the scene.